Muse Masters - reissue series

[bertrand]

On 8/16/2025 at 5:30 PM, Stompin at the Savoy said:

Your attitude has hardened.  You view the errors as signs of irremediable character traits in the producer and have written him off.  I agree with you that there have been some significant issues.  Zev is not a good writer and has, in my view, kind of bad taste.  He is attracted to glitzy, glossy sort of stuff.  All that means is he should delegate and let others design the covers, booklets and advertising and write the copy while he handles the bigger picture with more care.  Those are my constructive suggestions but the truth is I don't care much about Zev - I care about the music and focus on the product coming out of my speakers: is there benefit to music lovers such as myself in these releases?   

He delegates plenty.

On 8/16/2025 at 7:33 AM, Kevin Bresnahan said:

I like a lot of the stuff Zev has gotten issued. What I don't like about some of the things I've heard about him is that he (or those who know him) calls himself the "Jazz Detective", implying that he discovers these sessions that no one else found and puts them out. This is not always the case. Just because something has only been circulating via bootleg tapes doesn't mean that it was "lost" before he heard it.

The Mingus Ronnie Scott was also hardly lost.

[HutchFan]

My take:

If he issues an LP that I'd like to hear & have, I'll buy it.

If he doesn't, I won't.

 

[clifford_thornton]

17 minutes ago, bertrand said:

From my brief experience trying to help him, 'easily distractable' is the understatement of the year.

Is this the Dolphy thing with Joe Chambers or something else? The tapes for the one with Joe have not been located yet, IIRC.

I can't even recall; it was years ago, but I don't believe it was the Douglas/FM recordings and rehearsals.

FWIW I guess Concord aka Alchemy Copyrights owns the catalog, but I guess there are questions of payment going back many years. Will that get sorted? Think Zev can do it?

[bertrand]

34 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

I can't even recall; it was years ago, but I don't believe it was the Douglas/FM recordings and rehearsals.

FWIW I guess Concord aka Alchemy Copyrights owns the catalog, but I guess there are questions of payment going back many years. Will that get sorted? Think Zev can do it?

The date I have heard that is being hunted for is a live date shortly before Out To Lunch. Maybe it has been found. I am always the last to know.

I doubt Dolphy was under contract with Prestige by then. I always wondered if the Blue Note date was a one-off, or if he was going to make another record for them which of course was never to be.

[clifford_thornton]

Out to Lunch was done while Dolphy was under contract to FM Records, so I've always thought it was intended to be a one-off.

[bertrand]

1 hour ago, clifford_thornton said:

Out to Lunch was done while Dolphy was under contract to FM Records, so I've always thought it was intended to be a one-off.

Really? What is FM records?

[Kevin Bresnahan]

5 minutes ago, bertrand said:

Really? What is FM records?

[mjzee]

I think you mean GM Records: https://gmrecordings.com/

[felser]

4 hours ago, JSngry said:

This one is da'bomb:

Primo Woody Shaw, great album.

[Chuck Nessa]

26 minutes ago, mjzee said:

I think you mean GM Records: https://gmrecordings.com/

No, THIS!

[bertrand]

1 hour ago, Chuck Nessa said:

No, THIS!

Not familiar with this label at all. So what label did Iron Man come out on? Blue Note had to ask permission for Out To Lunch?

[JSngry]

Iron Man came out on Douglas, but posthumously, and after FM had folded. Alan Douglas was the producer and it looks like he ended up with the whole session(s).

[bertrand]

Never noticed that! Did Blue Note try to sign Dolphy away?

So FM records is Kay and Kameron, but the name Fred Miles also pops up. What a mess.

[JSngry]

Also note that FM was initially distributed by Vee Jay, which might explain this:

and maybe this?

which is actually a fun record to play as a recreational listen.

[bertrand]

13 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Also note that FM was initially distributed by Vee Jay, which might explain this:

and maybe this?

which is actually a fun record to play as a recreational listen.

What the hell is that??? Is it real?

FM records had a motto: 'no static at all'.

 

 

[JSngry]

Oh yes, very real. Both of them.

Early 70s cutout bin staples, both of them.

[clifford_thornton]

.

Edited 2 hours ago by clifford_thornton

[bertrand]

39 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Oh yes, very real. Both of them.

Early 70s cutout bin staples, both of them.

That session with Cannonball exists?

[clifford_thornton]

IIRC, the music of Cannonball featured a totally different band (no Dolphy) and the Dolphy tracks are, of course, from the FM sessions.

[JSngry]

It's just one cut with Cannonball, the last cut on Side Two, from IIRC, a Paul Chambers Vee Jay side (it's in the Mosaic).

The first two on Side Two are from that great Benny Green Vee Jay album. I mean hey - Gene Ammons, Frank Foster, AND Frank Wess!

(off the record...anybody who doesn't like Gene Ammons has something wrong with them...)

[clifford_thornton]

not familiar with the Green LP.

[JSngry]

8 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

not familiar with the Green LP.

I don't know that too many people are. It's popped up a few times under different guides, but AFAIK never on its own terms.

It's s a pity, really. A very... vernacular- heavy session!

 

Ok, my bad. It has been reissued on CD, and remains available!

[clifford_thornton]

Will give it a listen, thanks for the suggestion. Think I only have him as a sideman here & there (but not on Dolphy's Here & There).

[JSngry]

The original liner notes (by Frank London Brown https://www.discogs.com/artist/2645584-Frank-London-Brown) are some of the truest musings on "black blue collar jazz" that I know of.

Oh yeah = Tootie Heath on drums!